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Friday, November 1, 2013

Cool points <<<< Quality time, A Guest Post From Tim Branch

Today's guest post is from Tim Branch, a volunteer with YL in TN. You may have heard Tim's dad, Jim, speak at a Young Life camp. Tim blogs for YL leaders at http://timbranch18.blogspot.com and has a personal record of -9 on the Windy Gap frisbee
golf course.

It's easy to get discouraged in ministry. We
have this tendency to freak out when things aren't going well, and doom
ourselves to remain where we are forever. But wherever you are in your
ministry, whether you're getting the silent treatment from half the sophomore
class, or whether you are being ridiculed at the lunch table twice a week,
remember this: time is your best friend.

For all the confusion it creates to
think about a God that may exist outside of time, I have a theory that we
really don't understand time as well as we think we do. People have an
inconvenient habit of seeing the way the world is, and forgetting that it
changes; that it's always changing.

When we have been through a lot of things with someone, we
just become connected with that person. That person knows part of our past,
enough of it to make us feel like they understand us and what we’ve been
through. I look back at my best guy friends who’ve walked with me through the
thick and thin of life, and I see that history in their eyes every time I look
at them. We share something sturdy, something lasting that makes up the
groundwork of meaningful friendships, something that doesn't allow it to be
easily shaken. I look back at girls that I shared special experiences with,
like special trips or special missions or special accomplished objectives or
special hardships, with fondness. I see something in them too, something that
creates a special connection... and that thing is an understanding of where
I’ve been. Where we’ve been and what we’ve been through are the things that
make us into who we are.

So, when someone is with you through good times and
hard times, you're going to feel like they know you. Not only that, but paired
with an aura of safety (which is your responsibility to exude as a Young Life
leader, or mentor, or even a parent), that person becomes both a safe haven to
share deep thoughts with and a solid lifeline in times of severe hardship. And
that, my friends, is something both special and uncommon in this world. All you
have to do to be a good Young Life leader is to follow Jesus and be willing to
give that away.

Here’s what I’m trying to say. For those of you who, like
me, had a hard time seeing how you could possibly end up getting a high
schooler to care even a tiny bit that you drove 30 minutes to come see them,
take heart. Time is your best friend.

It’s not as imperative as you think to
earn cool points. Just grab onto something and hold on tight, and keep holding
on for months, or even years. Because once you have continually offered a safe
place to a hurting young person (which I promise you is rare in their lives),
and you have walked with them through happy seasons and sad seasons, time just
gels you together. You just find yourself in the place you hoped for, all of a
sudden, without having to earn any favor or any cool points. And man, isn’t
that a relief. I broke my back for some cool points. It mostly ended badly... I
don't wanna talk about it.

Here is a small math equation that illustrates what I'm
saying:

cool points <<<< quality time

those are "less than" signs, just to be absolutely
clear.

You don't have to strive so hard for the affirmation of high
schoolers to be effective in ministry. You just have to be with them (and be
with God). It truly is a waiting game. Just keep showing up. You're normally
guaranteed to be "that weird guy/girl that comes to lunch" for the
first semester, or even year. But time has a way of normalizing things. You
become normal, eventually, and when that happens you end up (by default
sometimes) rooted into the lives of people you never thought would care that
you even exist.

So keep doing what you're doing, and don't worry if they're not
responding well. A successful Young Life leader is simply a thick-skinned Young
Life leader who doesn't give up despite multiple rejections. And who knows?
Maybe through being rejected in ways you didn't even think possible, God wants
to show you a little bit about how he pursues YOU. God has a way of using my
ministry experiences to say, "Here's what's happening between you and
Me."

If He's called you to ministry, failure only happens when
you disobey. We can't change what happens when we follow the call. Maybe it's
good, maybe it's bad. But God doesn't need us as much as we think He does. Our
role in his plan is basically the same role as a kid whose dad boosts him up to
dunk a basketball. All we have to do is go where we're called, and the rest is
up to Him! -Tim Branch

"The
people to whom I am sending you are obstinate and stubborn. Say to them, ‘This
is what the Sovereign Lord says.’ And whether they listen or fail to listen—for
they are a rebellious people—they will know that a prophet has been among them. And you, son of man, do not be afraid of them or their words. Do not be
afraid, though briers and thorns are all around you and you live among
scorpions. Do not be afraid of what they say or be terrified by them, though
they are a rebellious people. You must speak my words to them, whether they
listen or fail to listen, for they are rebellious. 8 But you, son of man,
listen to what I say to you. Do not rebel like that rebellious people; open
your mouth and eat what I give you.”

Ezekiel 2:4-8

"Therefore, since we are surrounded by such
a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the
sin that so easily entangles. And let us run with perseverance the race marked
out for us, 2 fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith. For
the joy set before him he endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down
at the right hand of the throne of God. 3 Consider him who endured such opposition
from sinners, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart."